An exercise in bangernomics

Muncher

Muncher

Muncher

Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
7,169
Location
Ipswich
I need another car, mainly to do the 3 mile journey to the train station for the next 9 months or so, it needs to be left at the station all day, the idea of this car is to cost me as little as absolutely possible. Literally I want something that if it gets stolen, vandalised, breaks down, it doesn't matter at all. If I forget where I have parked it I can leave it there, you get the picture...

It needs to be cheap, talking a budget of £100, free would be better? Is this still possible following what Clarkson did on Top Gear.

Needs to get from A to B, so reliable, thinking German or Jap.

Fuel economy - not hugely important I guess, but would be a bonus.

Needs to be big-ish if I need to move a few bits.

Needs to be capable on a motorway, comfy is a bonus, so are some toys.

Any considerations such as looks, driving dynamics, performance go out of the window, though if I can get that all well and good.

Are auctions the best place to look?
 
At that sort of money I wouldn't worry about reliability, find something with a long tax and mot. Pleanty for sale in adtrader. If it breaks its cheaper to buy a new banger at any rate.
 
i wouldent of thought country of origin would be a important. I would prefer an early 250k diesel Xantia to a very old jap car. How about a volvo? a 740 round here went for £30 with 6 months mot, body work was ruff but not enough to fail an mot (front bumper sagging, aerial replacee with coat hanger and some badly sprayed bits).
 
A Rover 216 Mk2.

Honda 1.6 engine, later models have an alarm/immob so most people won't try nicking them, most have PAS.

Bargains :)
 
Find an old car where there are loads of dead ones in a near scrappy, parts will be dirt cheap if you need them :)

An old japanese car is best imho, but if you do need parts they can be pricey, but for this money you should be ok :)
 
I hate to pimp my own (old) car again, but I've got mates who've done the same exercise as you with old Cavaliers.

The old 2.0i 8v engine is bombproof. Even if it's not running very well, it'll still work. They have huge boots, 115bhp gives a surprisingly OK turn of speed, comfy seats, simple to work on for the odd DIY job, and can be had for the £100 mark, maybe a little more for a tidy one.

Case in point - a mate bought a tidy old F plate 2.0i Cav for £200. Had a years MOT, and a years tax. He ran it into the ground for a year, literally redlining every gearchange (from cold) for the entire year he had it. He did 30,000 miles, nothing broke, nothing went wrong. He transported engines and gearboxes in the boot, so it took a hammering.

Sold it on a year later with about a week's MOT and no tax for £215 - a £15 profit after a year of £0 expenditure.

The 1.7TD cavalier could also be had if you're not bothered about performance, the Isuzu engines last forever, but don't perform very well.

EDIT: On the parts front - there are thousands of old cavaliers in scrapyards, and parts should be well common.
 
old volvo 740/940 estate

leather/heated seats/PAS/aircon/electric windows all round/boot so big it has its own atmospehere etc :)

great cruiser too and some fairly powerful engines
 
Muncher said:
I need another car, mainly to do the 3 mile journey to the train station for the next 9 months or so, it needs to be left at the station all day, the idea of this car is to cost me as little as absolutely possible. Literally I want something that if it gets stolen, vandalised, breaks down, it doesn't matter at all. If I forget where I have parked it I can leave it there, you get the picture...
Click to expand...

For some strange reason I really fancy getting a real banger too. I dunno why but I have this urge to get back to having something that I just don't care about, like when I had my Metro when I was at college. It was great, I just left it anywhere and nobody paid any attention to it at all.

Anyway, there's loads of el-cheapo cars on the autotrader, just try to find something with a decent MOT would probably be my advice. Just pick something that is *really* common so you can fix it for pennies when it breaks down. Something like a Fiesta, scrapyards are full of em.
 
I'd be seriously tempted, as gay as it is, and as stupid as you would look, to get a scooter :/ 3 miles is almost walking distance, i cant see running a car can be worth it.
 
Nissan Primera?
Volvo 440?

If you can stretch your budget to £500 you can get a seriously kitted Scorpio(as seen on PH shed of the week).
 
I've just done 10,000 hard miles on a £220 Cavalier, spending a grand total of £12 on parts. It never let me down and I'm just about to sell it for £300 if the chap turns up tomorrow.

Seems to fulfill all of your criteria. Just look through the local free-ads for something unwanted, unloved and in need of a good home then pick faults during the test drive until you get it for buttons ;).

After the slating I got in the other thread, I'm glad to see other people coming round to my way of thinking ;).
 
F355 said:
Nissan Primera?
Volvo 440?

If you can stretch your budget to £500 you can get a seriously kitted Scorpio(as seen on PH shed of the week).
Click to expand...

Problem with a seriously kitted scorpio is that they're not very common - so 2nd hand parts from a scrappy won't be common... And they have a bit of a reputation for going kaputt don't they?
 
Do what I do most of the time, cycle :)

(although my bike cost more than £100 but at least I save on petrol/insurance/tax/etc)
 
Jez said:
I'd be seriously tempted, as gay as it is, and as stupid as you would look, to get a scooter :/ 3 miles is almost walking distance, i cant see running a car can be worth it.
Click to expand...

Only thing is he obvously wants to use it on other occasions too.

Muncher said:
Needs to be big-ish if I need to move a few bits.

Needs to be capable on a motorway, comfy is a bonus, so are some toys.
Click to expand...
 
Get something old and jap, it might be a bit rusty in places, but it'll be cheep to run and cheeper to buy.

I'd look at Primera, Sunny ( :p ), Civic, Corolla. Slightly smaller, Suzuki Swift?
 
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